HAGGAI---THE BEGINNING OF BLESSING
INTRODUCTION
1. Post-exilic prophets:
A. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi belonged to the period after the return from the Babylonian captivity.
B. Haggai and Zechariah aided in rebuilding the temple through the encouragement of their preaching. (Ezra 6:14)
C. Malachi was probably associated with Nehemiah nearly 100 years later in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem.
2. Haggai, the man
A. He was probably born in captivity and returned with Zerubbabel.
B. Five times he is called “the prophet” and once “the Lord’s messenger”.
C. He prophesied in 520 B.C. and his prophecies covered a period of four months.
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BOOK
1. Fourteen years before the prophet Haggai ministered, a decree from Cyrus, king of Persia, had been issued to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:2-4)
2. 42,360 of the captive Jews, plus 7,000 slaves returned to set about the task of rebuilding in 536 B.C. (Ezra 2:64, 65)
3. In the seventh month they built the altar and offered sacrifices. (Ezra 3:1-7)
4. In the second month of 535 B.C. the work on the temple itself is begun; then stopped, (Ezra 4:17) due to opposition from a new king (Artaxerxes) who had taken Cyrus’ place. (Ezra 4:7)
5. Fourteen years later in 520 B.C. Haggai calls upon the people to begin again the reconstruction that had been dormant for those years.
A. The rebuilding of Jerusalem had been stopped by royal decree.
B. The people had used the decree as an excuse to stop work on the temple also. (Ezra 4:24)
C. The people seemed glad to find an excuse to stop the work.
1) It is not too difficult to persuade men to relax in the Lord’s work.
2) We often seem glad to accept the most flimsy excuse.
D. The same excuse did not prevent them from building luxurious houses while the temple laid in ruins. (Haggai 1:2-4)
OUTLINE OF THE BOOK The book of Haggai consists of four messages delivered over a period of four months.
I. FIRST MESSAGE--A CALL TO BUILD (1:1-15)
A. A message to the priests and princes (vs. 1, 2)
1. God refers to Judah as “this people”, instead of “my people”.
a. Their fellowship was broken.
b. A selfish and self-seeking attitude had separated them from the Lord.
2. Estrangement because of a feeble excuse (v. 2)
a. “The time has not come...”
b. They already had a specific assignment from the Lord.
c. They even had the approval of the government.
B. A message to the people (1:3-11)
1. Their attitude (v. 4)
a. The people lived in luxurious houses while the temple laid in ruins.
b. This indicated that the people were chiefly concerned with their own comfort.
c. It also indicated a lack of concern for the Lord’s work.
2. The outcome of their attitude (vs. 5-7; 9-11)
a. They did not prosper in anything.
b. Their wages slipped away as lost through a hole in their purse.
3. The command “consider your ways” (vs. 5, 7)
a. What was the reason for their economic difficulty?
b. In putting self first and God last, they had lost out in the end.
4. The remedy (v. 8)
a. Put God first, and get busy for Him.
b. He would bless them again.
c. “GOD BEGINS WHEN WE BEGIN”.
C. A message of encouragement to all the people (1:12-15)
1. The people responded to the message. (v. 12)
2. The people were encouraged:
a. By the Lord’s presence (v. 13)
b. By the Lord’s Spirit (vs. 14, 15)
II. SECOND MESSAGE--A CALL TO COURAGE (2:1-9)
A. Circumstances (v. 1-3)
1. Some of the “old timers” had seen and remembered the former glory of Solomon’s Temple. (v. 3)
2. They lamented what they considered to be the inferiority of Zerubbabel’s Temple. (v. 3)
3. The old men were causing despondency among the workers. (Ezra 3:11-13)
“Then there are those people who are always lamenting the departed greatness, the bygone greatness, the bygone days of spritual power; they cry for another good old-fashioned revival like that under Moody. For my part I never want to see another revival like that under Moody, never; nor like that under Finney. Why not? Because I want to have God’s latest new thing. Do you know that many men missed or were in danger of missing God’s movement under Moody and Finney because they were looking to something still further back? God has some new man, and some new and better method of showing His power and His love. What we want is to be praying, not for an old-fashioned revival, but that God will accomplish His work in His own way and that He will take hold of us now and send us forth to do something. Work, and be strong to do your work. Do not sit sighing for the time to arrive, but take hold of something and do it and give God a chance to work through you for the accomplishment of that upon which His heart is set.” --G. C. Morgan
B Challenge in spite of the discouragement and difficulty: (vs. 4, 5)
1. “Be strong and work.” (v. 4)
2. Difficulties are no excuse for idleness.
a. They should be incentives to dependence on God and new effort.
b. The only guarantee of success is faith and hard work.
C. Comfort (vs. 6-9)
1. “The desire of all nations” would come to them. (v. 7)
a. Literally the desire and precious things of all nations
b. Signifies material blessings from the nations
c. Also looks ahead when Christ would come to the temple, which He did when on earth
2. God would provide for the material of the temple in a supernatural way and in supernatural abundance. (v. 8)
3. The superior glory of the Lord’s Temple when Christ rules (v. 9)
III. THIRD MESSAGE--A CALL TO CONSIDER (2:10-19)
A. Their former condition of disobedience (vs. 11-19)
1. Nothing they did pleased Him. (vs. 11-14)
2. Nothing they did was blessed of Him. (vs. 15-19)
B. Their future condition of obedience (v. 19b)
1. They would be blessed because of their return to Him.
2. They would be blessed because of the renewal of their service.
IV. FOURTH MESSAGE--A CALL TO ENDURE (2:20-23)
A. A description of the future blessedness of God’s people
B. A description of the preservation of the Davidic line through Zerubbabel, thus insuring the coming of Christ to Israel